Almost two dozen D.C. schools suspended the private operator of their before- and after-school programs this week after allegations were raised that an employee kissed and inappropriately touched a minor student.

The company, Massachusetts-based Springboard Education, also could not produce documentation of required background checks for its employees in D.C. schools. (There is another separate and unaffiliated company, Springboard Collaborative, that offers summer programs and was not involved in this incident.)

The alleged incident occurred in mid-May at Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan, a D.C. public school near Union Station. According to a police report, the 21-year-old Springboard employee “would coordinate meetings in the school, after hours” with a 13-year-old student. “While together, the victim and the suspect would kiss on the mouth, and the suspect would place his hands on her clothed buttocks.”

In an email to parents, Principal Kim Adutwum said that after learning of the allegations, the Springboard employee was removed from the school and the matter referred to police.

“I want to assure you that the safety of our students is our number one priority, and that we take all allegations of misconduct very seriously,” she wrote. “Out of an abundance of caution, beginning Monday, June 10, Springboard Education in America’s services have been temporarily suspended at all D.C. Public Schools while we take steps to review Springboard’s compliance with all DCPS requirements.”

One charter school, E.L. Haynes, did not suspend services, citing documentation on background checks of Springboard staff on file. WAMU reached out to E.L. Haynes for comment on Tuesday but received no response; the school sent a message to parents on Wednesday morning.

Parents from other DCPS schools served by Springboard reported having received robocalls or emails about the company’s suspension. It also operates in some charter schools, including popular networks like KIPP and Two Rivers, both of which confirmed they had stopped working with Springboard. According to the Springboard website, it has contracts with 21 campuses across the District.

“Like DCPS, we’ve suspended after-care/before-care with Springboard for the remainder of the school year while we look into the matter,” Adam Rupe, a spokesman for KIPP, said in an email.

Officials with the company said they responded immediately once they were informed of what happened at Capitol Hill Montessori.

“We learned about the incident and we fired him,” Mark Freidberg, chief operating officer for Springboard, said of the employee.

But the problems with Springboard, which operates in eight states and D.C., seem to extend beyond the single incident at Capitol Hill Montessori.

“Though Springboard reports that all of their staff members have background checks, they have been unable to produce records of them as is required. This is a citywide issue with Springboard and has impacted both DCPS and charter schools,” read an email that went out to parents of the Two Rivers Public Charter School, which has two campuses.

Freidberg confirmed there had been problems with Springboard’s record-keeping on background checks for its employees in D.C. He estimated the company has between 100 and 150 employees in the District.

“As we’ve been fully cooperating with the school and police, we started to look at our records of all our employees,” he said. “Some of our record-keeping wasn’t where it needed to be. Out of an abundance of caution, we ended up suspending programs for this week.”

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education is charged with overseeing background checks for employees of before and after school program providers, and is supposed to annually monitor all licensed programs in D.C. public and charter schools.

According to one official at OSSE, only six of Springboard’s programs were licensed: at KIPP, Two Rivers and Brent Elementary campuses. D.C. regulations only require licenses of providers that offer both before- and after-school programs, but not either individually. A license is required if the provider accepts child care subsidies.

No OSSE official was available to speak about the situation with Springboard or the role the agency plays in ensuring all employees of providers have the proper background checks completed.

But Rupe says that even though Springboard was licensed with OSSE, the company still could not provide the documentation the school sought.

“Springboard was unable to send us verification/proof that their staff in our schools had completed their background checks despite OSSE certification that they were in compliance on this front,” he said. “So out of an abundance of caution we’ve suspended our work with them.”

Though the suspension of Springboard’s before and after school services does come the last week of school before the summer break, it has also left some schools and parents scrambling to find alternatives. At Two Rivers, parents were told that there will be no after-care on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, forcing parents to pick up their children at 1:15 p.m.

In a message sent to parents, Springboard said it would be refunding the cost of care for the week.

“We’re trying to make sure we have all our paperwork tidied up. In this day and age, we all need to be ultra cautious,” said Freidberg. “We are reviewing all our processes and procedures to make sure if there is ever a question about our employees, we have all appropriate documentation.”

This story originally appeared at WAMU. It has been updated with additional information about E.L. Haynes charter school.